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Wednesday, 29 February 2012

No measuring rod to soaring prices, it is limit less in fact. You name any thing from essential commodities to every thing in the market the level is sky high. No check, no curb, no control of any kind is there in sight and consumers are unable to locate any spot to act as a sigh of relief for them any where. Initially there is some price increase on some point some where and it instantly compounds in respect of several other areas. In certain cases this corresponding increase has nothing like any direct link or relationship. There is rise in the cost of petrol/diesel and doctors increase their consultation charges and instances like that are similarly there in several other areas. What is the point? But what sounds as most peculiar a phenomenon is that people by and large don’t feel that much concerned beyond indulging into a competitive tug of war as to who can raise the cost of his commodity in a bigger measure when his turn comes with of course some exceptions like that of salary earners who can not raise their emoluments at their own. Election tempo in many states is currently running high and all problems from corruption to unemployment are being raised by the voters. They do talk of soaring prices too but it is just in a secondary order as if the people have conveniently reconciled to price rise as a routine order of the day which factor only indicates that the menace now stands fully stabilised in the market with hardly any chance of any remedial measures.

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

The statement made by Mamta Sharma, the chair person of National Commission for women, while addressing a conference to the effect that there is nothing wrong if a woman is called sexy, this should instead be taken as compliment and appreciation has since become a matter of controversy. The furore on that count is raised by the women themselves and they have taken it as some thing much more derogatory to their honour and dignity. Many of them even raised a demand that Mamta Sharma be removed from her post as the chair person of the commission. There are big debates all over the country whether her remark is to be really taken as that of appreciation or as some thing that sounds derogatory. In fact the words are some thing which continue changing their definitions with the passage of time. It applies to all the languages whether it is English, Hindi, Tamil, Spanish, Urdu, Sanskrit or any thing

else. The Oxford Dictionary of Current English describes sexy as (1)‘sexually attractive or stimulating’. (2)’sexually aroused’, (3) ‘concerned with or engrossed in sex’. In earlier days the word ‘sexy’ used to be denotative of a biological inference and it was read in its crude form. Now things are changed and enormous upheavals are there in the social order. There are many a women and the girls who unhesitatingly take it as some thing of a compliment when some one calls them sexy. Vidya Balan, the famous star in Bollywood, in her last visit to Kanpur where she visited to promote one of her latest films, said with a sense of pride that she felt much elevated in to herself when people called her sexy adding that it was most often in the context of her eyes and voice. The observation that gender sensitisation occurs more due to provocative looks and dress the women wear is correct quite to some extent but the fact is that the very social order of the day on the part of the people in general coupled with their cavalier attitude is itself to blame for the malady. Literally and also grammatically speaking any person having the element of greed is called greedy and similarly any person possessing the element of sex is sexy which factor gains strength when it is read in the context of the meaning of ‘sexy’ in the dictionary as quoted above. Any inference drawn out of the word ‘sexy’ beyond this is nothing but just the reflection of one’s own individual mind in the garb of the enormous change in social scenario assuming the character of an ultra modern culture.

Saturday, 25 February 2012

'Child is the father of man', said Wordsworth and a child in every one is alive the whole life of a person howsoever old he/ she grows. Facultatively it is always prudent to get reminded that the child in me is capable of directing my mind in different positive ways. Even genetically it counts and biologically too. Many in old age suffer from the notion that regeneration in the body system stops at the level of advancing age. It is not that correct. May be the regeneration level is not that very effective at a later stage of life but that it stops completely is not true. It holds good in physical terms, more so mentally. Necessary will coupled with perseverance makes it possible that we are able to secure reproductive element considerably rejuvenating our total body system. Rejuvenation is most powerful a Vedic principle since ages and it holds good equally in modern age. Psychologically, if I am engrossed with a problem causing mounting pressure and tension, I am to think of a child in me asking for a solution and the chances are for a positive reply -my mind will be directed to take up the task in a manner a child in me could have taken it up during the early phase of my life, free of malice, prejudice and chaste fully innocently. In most of the cases people are unable to overcome a tension for the reason that their faculties get deeply preoccupied with prejudices on an issue and this blocks the process of sorting out a situation dispassionately. A child is more capable of looking at things in a natural manner without any fixed mind and there lies the key to circumvent a situation.

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Humans were originally monkeys only, it is said. This is, however, a different question that if transformation like this occurred how come all the monkeys were not converted as humans and what kind of the specie are the left overs fully alive as on date and still fostering. Whatever it is but the fact remains that monkeys are in no way lagging behind the humans in the matters of intelligence, nay they are rather more intelligent in certain respects. One of my maternal uncles namely Manoram Dixit, an Ayurvedic practitioner who possessed enormous inquisitiveness for study on animals, plants and herbs happened to be in dense forest adjoining Rishikesh roaming here and there in pursuit of his research work. He came across a herd of monkeys gleefully hopping and playing amongst themselves. All of sudden a child monkey from amongst them fell upon a small plant in the shrubs. Writhing with unbearable pain it started crying looking like it was to collapse. Seeing this an elder monkey rushed to another plant just by the side of the one the touch of which was the cause of the whole problem for the child monkey. Snatching a cluster of leaves from the plant he forcefully rubbed them on the body of the child monkey and the process so applied gave it an instant relief. It was so surprising. In reply to the queries raised by my uncle the locals told him that the plant in question always develops as a twin by nature like one is positive or plus and the other one is negative or minus and the monkeys are aware of it as to which leaves of which plant are to be applied to undo the trouble so caused by one of the twins. There is nothing like any laboratory available to the monkeys for investigations but their own sense and instinct bestowed upon them by nature are enough to guide them as to what has to be done where to combat a trouble.

Monday, 20 February 2012

Facing tall trees, a cemented canopy and a tower of apartments it is a tiny peepal tree recently planted by the locals with a marble platform for the devotees to worship the Deity of theirs when the sapling so planted blossoms to its full size. Their faith is that peepal tree is the abode of their God.

Saturday, 18 February 2012

Let sky be the limit for expectations is the advice of many and so is the scenario obtaining these days in the society as a whole. There are herds of people awe fully inquisitive to get richer over night enabling them to lead a luxurious life come what may. Careers are one thing one has to aspire for but that is and has to be a graduated sequence of events and dreaming alone can not do for the purpose. The media, TV channels and news paper mainly, are playing a drummer’s role all the time publicising and propagating particularly directing a message to the younger generation that one must continue dreaming big to achieve some goal or the other. True, dreaming big is alright but it has to be supported with necessary zeal and fervour in a methodical order. Howsoever strong be a goal it has to be earned and can’t be acquired as a loot. An unbridled dreaming results into frustration. Study shows that many of the youngsters in various terrorist groups are well educated. They are the people who dreamt big for a well to do life and as they could not fulfil their desires with right directions they had to resort to nefarious means to hurriedly procure comfortable zones of life. It is a steadily followed persistent effort and not a loose sort of mere dreaming that elicits graceful results in the matters of a career.

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Is there any God? It’s a question as old as the mankind itself answers to which have been there in thousands of ways by the people in different ages none of which can of course claim finality in the matter till date. Time passes and so do the definitions changing every now and then. There is Ishwar for Hindus, God for Christians, Allah for Muslims and so on with a separate God for each religion. Is it not that the very phenomenon of God was created by humans themselves and if so be the case it appears that there is nothing like an independent entity of Him. His shape and design has been changing with the passage of time and today’s God in different pictures of his looks more elegant, appealing and inspiring with technological developments in the field of photography. Popularity of Gods also enhances and feigns with change of time like it does in the case of humans, say politicians and different other celebrities and there is nothing unique or abnormal in their case. Not they themselves but their worshippers decide as to which way their popularity graph tilts to the forward or backward directions. Some more than three decades back Ganesh festival in Mumbai used to be celebrated in a very frugal order with certain smaller groups assembling here and there on the roads rejoicing the festivities. Such functions have since assumed enormous proportions with the Lord being displayed in giant size every where causing huge traffic jams and road blockages. Who brought these changes? The Lord himself or the devotees? The reason could be that every state in the country is for their own God and so is Maharashtra. As an exception the Islam is one religion that does not believe in any shape or design being specified for their Allah, the God who is invisible which factor safeguards him from being painted in free styled ways at times to the point of not being tasteful.

Sunday, 12 February 2012

Renowned economist of Indian origin and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is awarded the most covetous National Humanities Medal by American President Obama for his services to the humanities. He is the first Indian to be bestowed upon with such an honour. Honour of this type has till now been confined to American nationals alone and Amartya Sen from India is an exception. Highlighting his achievements in the field of humanities the Award recognises him as the one with “…insights into the causes of poverty, famine and injustice”. We from India congratulate him again and again for outstandingly bringing laurels to the country. Our thanks to President Obama.

Saturday, 11 February 2012

Look at them and you find they are all the time provided a battalion of security force. Security for what? Do they really deserve it or it is just a burden on public exchequer? In most of the cases it is only an unnecessary wastage of public money. Besides ministers an ordinary MLA/MLC or an MP is given security and in several cases even their family members get it. Study shows that not all of them genuinely need it. In many cases they manufacture false stories of danger to their public life to secure a cover. This cover is mostly used by them as status symbol and terrorise their opponents which is totally a personal area and has hardly to do any thing with public interest. Since it suits them all there is never a word of dissent against the arrangement by any political party in the country who otherwise are well known for all the time fighting amongst themselves for some reason or the other or no reason at all. This again is a sort of corruption warranting a peremptory curb in the public interest.

Thursday, 9 February 2012

There is love, there is romance and there is lust and these are the phenomenon which encircle the mankind forming a grotesque most cycle of events running uninterrupted since ages knowing no end. But life does not end with this alone as there are things more compelling than all this confronting human life. In the words of a great poet it goes like this:

“Rahten aur bhi hain wasl ki rahat ke siwa

aur bhi gham hain zamane mein mohabbat ke siwa”

This is in Urdu and when translated in English it means that love alone as a matter of relief and solace is not every thing in life. Compare hunger for instance. There are innumerable instances where people had to compromise their sex for some food. Even Merilyn Monro had to do so in her early days of poverty when she was most commoner a woman before she rose to fame and became a top most movie star in the world. Situational compulsion like that of hunger is the one that forces a person to ignore even her/ his dignity for the sake of it. Sex could at times be a matter of lust but not the hunger where one has no limits of surrender when it goes unbearable and is far beyond any patience.

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

The current month of February’2012 completes a century of its glorious years. Thanks to Dada Saheb Dhundraj Govind Phalke, a great cinema artist himself, who could take the credit of giving this country the first feature film ‘Raja Harishchandra’. It was exactly on 5th February a hundred years back that he undertook journey to England where he stayed for 2 months collecting necessary technical material then available to be used when he was due back to the country and this is how the first picture ‘Raja Harishchandra’ could be produced.

Bollywood in India has far exceeded the number of films produced by Hollywood and the credit certainly goes to Dada Saheb Phalke. This is only an irony of the situation that he was not that much recognised in his life time as it was done after he was no more there. The story goes that once there was a big event organised in Mumbai commemorating the progress of cinema in the country but it struck to no body’s mind to invite Dada Saheb Phadke in the function. After some time some one noticed that as an enthusiast he was very much present there amongst the audience. Organisers rushed to him regretting their lapse taking him to the dais bestowing all honours upon him giving him recognition of a legend of the time.

Monday, 6 February 2012

Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh (India) are on and tempo on that count is running very high. All political parties mainly including Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party are mustering their full strength to ensure their victory. Who actually wins finally is a matter none can predict. Every thing lies in the hands of the voters who are being wooed by the political leaders by leaving no stone unturned for the purpose. Every one preaches for a caste less society but the fact remains that elections are fought based only on caste prejudice. Equally there are sermons that religion should not be the criterion to mobilise the electorate but there again it is the religion only that is exploited most during elections or even otherwise also. Contestants include even duos like father and son and brother and brother fighting against each other without the least consideration for same blood. Politics in fact has nothing like any definite ethics except a sheer opportunism.

Sunday, 5 February 2012

Immortal as he remains in the minds of all Indians as a great hero, Veer Shivaji is a name in the history as alive, nay more, as it should have been in the days of his life (1630-1680) and more so when he firmly reigned in Maharashtra during 1674-1680 AD. TV channel ‘Colors’ is currently showing Veer Shivaji as a running serial which is a quite popular one. The life of Shivaji is justifiably depicted in the serial in most powerful a manner and read in the context of what a social and political atmosphere might have been there in the then times, the serial has meaningfully covered different aspects of the society then obtaining. Certain narratives are of course there which might injure the feelings of a certain community but that is after all a history where factual side of it just can’t be sacrificed. The actors playing different roles in the serial have done full justice to their performance. Shivaji is portrayed as a champion of the masses and his role reminds us of what Prithviraj Chauhan did several centuries back in the remote past. Prithviraj Chauhan not only fought against the invaders but equally strived hard to have a fully integrated India and so did Shivaji uniting different factions of rulers operating as self styled autonomous entities in the country. Shivaji as he has rightly been portrayed in the TV serial was certainly not only a great pride for Maharashtra alone but the country as a whole.

Saturday, 4 February 2012

As a result of an enormous technological development in the country there are every now and then changes taking place in all fields and so is the case in the area of banking where many a banks including State Bank of India are talking so loud about paper less banking quoting their ATMs as their major component in the direction. True, concept of paper less banking is laudable as it helps customers in transacting necessary business without waiting for their turn standing in the big queues but such queues are still there in front of ATMs and the like. Queues even in different branches of the banks are hardly reduced as a result of different banking institutions earlier decision of drastically reducing staff strength in their offices. There is certainly a rationale behind the concept of paper less banking but this can work better only when there is adequate staff strength duly provided by taking the respective unions into confidence

Friday, 3 February 2012

Who they are? Why they are abandoned? It is every now and then that there are reports about some child or the other found some where here and there. In most of the cases it is found that the child concerned happens to be the one abandoned for the reason that it was delivered illegitimately and its parents could not afford the shame that could have erupted against them on this count in the society. Why indulge into illegal sex if the parents concerned are not bold enough to face the eventual outcome in the form of delivering an offspring? If it is love and not the lust on the part of the partners in a sexual activity they are supposed to be bold enough to own the child so born. Motherhood is a divine phase and no amount of any explanations can justify the callousness on the part of any mother for abandoning her child. If partners in sex don’t have enough courage to face its consequences including delivery of a child they must at least be capable of affording necessary patience to abstain from any sexual activity.

Thursday, 2 February 2012

In a corruption laden society like we have there are troubles emerging at every step and no consumer can help coming out of them howsoever best he tries. Financed by State Bank of India I own a house in State Bank Colony, Ratanlal Nagar, Kanpur with an electric meter for the last more than three decades. Payments of the relative electricity bills paid regularly without fail there was not even an exception ever on that count. Only some time back it was noticed that the meter reading had gone much low with the relative bill unusually showing too small an amount. Necessary complaint was lodged with the KESCO (Kanpur Electricity Supply Co.Ltd) immediately but there was no action taken by them. When the matter was followed up further they got irritated and a team of theirs barged into my house trying to find some fault or the other attributing the same as if some thing wrong was there at my end itself. Without hearing my family members in the matter they hurriedly prepared a bill for Rs.36,000/ as one time settlement besides the cost of new meter to be paid separately. Necessary cheque had to be given to them of course without prejudice to our version of the explanation.They in fact wanted some gratification (obviously illegal) in terms of money which was denied to them point blank with the result that a few days later they called again raising a further demand of Rs.86,000/by way of arrears as they said. Why arrears is the question as there was already a one time settlement. The moot point remains that all this was happening as they were not obliged with the payment they wanted by way of necessary bribe, a routine culture as they take it. I realise that the job could have been much easier if they were suitably obliged which of course was not done as a matter of conviction. In a country like ours one has to suffer and pay the price for whatever are his convictions.

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

It is possible now that one can have his/ her own personal postal stamps. There are people who have a deep craze for postal stamps indulging themselves in their huge collections and for them it is certainly a good news as pronounced by the postal authorities in India. The stamp so envisaged has to be in two parts –one containing the picture of some celebrity, Taj Mahal, Panchtantra, train, aircraft or some thing else as decided by the Government from time to time and the other with the photograph of the person who gets himself/ herself duly registered for the purpose with an amount of Rs.500/ including Rs.100/ as registration fee for a block of 12 photographs. There is nothing like any upper limit for the purpose. The scheme thus covers even a common man and is no more confined alone to dignitaries or other logos of national importance.